“You owe yourself the love that you so freely give to other people.” ~ Unknown

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On Wednesday, April 26th, there will be a Super New Moon which will usher in fresh and invigorating energy to help us move through the next month.

No other planets will affect how this moon influences us and our lives, making this particular moon a strong and stable one. Some lunar cycles wreck our plans, others are meant to encourage us to reap our rewards, and still others—like this one—are meant to push us toward the building of something new.

Something full of love.

This particular moon is asking us to take a closer look at the Four Immeasurables, or the four Buddhist virtues of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. These components most highly reflect a state of enlightenment, and right now, as many are seeing spring begin to bud and grow around us, we are also feeling the urge to build something of quality and purpose.

During the best of scenarios, these virtues would be present in our lives—not just in our mindset, but in the relationships and situations that we find ourselves participating in as well. Oftentimes, we project our own positivity onto any situation simply by having a positive mindset, yet that doesn’t always change the reality that we experience. There is an inherent difference between what we want to be experiencing and what actually is.

April has been a difficult month for many. There has been a great deal of chaotic energy at play, tugging us this way and that, never truly feeling like it has stabilized. One moment life seems fine, and the next it’s turned around and we have been left staggering for breath. 

There was a time for breaking down, breaking apart, and exposing ourselves to what it is we most fear, what we have most become attached to so that we could, in truth, be left with nothing. Only when we feel our most vulnerable and raw will we see not what the mind projects, but what the heart feels.

That is when the clearing phase comes in, and where we begin to see that loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity have always been there but have also been hidden by the confusion and the noise that we let in. It’s about realizing that everything we wanted or needed was already present, but we weren’t able to see it until we made room.

In order to find love, we first need to realize that love was always within us.

In order to understand equanimity, we need to understand that balance always existed.

And compassion is no different, only from seeing that it was present everywhere can we understand that it’s here now as well.

During this time, it’s important to be gentle with ourselves, to appreciate that things take time and that resting is sometimes the best way to begin. We need to clear our minds of all the static, the negativity, and the doubts that weigh us down or make us question our ability to actually see what we already have the capacity to enjoy.

To do nothing is still something.

Before we can begin to depart from illusion and build upon the reality of the Four Immeasurables within our own lives, we need to actually get in touch with what those principles mean to us. We are all different and varied in our beautiful individuality, and so that means what brings us love or joy will be diverse as well.

We need to discover not what others have defined as “right,” but what actually feels right for each of us. Those inner musings and qualities of poetry alive within let us know that we have stumbled upon something good, something that our soul needs.

There is a difference between good and amazing.

This new moon will be extra close to Earth, pulling us along with the tides to what makes us feel most alive, what resonates the most deeply, and what feels like home. Perhaps we are already there, and we will only feel a confirmation that we have chosen correctly, or maybe instead, we will suddenly look around and realize that although we constructed this life, it doesn’t feel like ours.

It’s scary to find ourselves torn apart and broken, to find that what we thought we wanted doesn’t feel as good as we hoped it would. This is a gift because it shows us the truth—the only thing that we can do, that this moon is guiding us to do, is to look within.

We can make sure that we are building something genuine with a strong foundation or if instead, it already feels shaky beneath our feet. We can decide if what we are feeling is real, or if instead, it’s merely a figment of our own hopeful projections. And ultimately, we can discern if we’re truly content or only settling.

Nothing can begin without our decision, and no one in this life will make us happy if we haven’t decided to love ourselves as we are. This new moon is not only asking us to delve within but to stay awhile and see what is really inside.

What do loving-kindness, joy, compassion, and equanimity mean to us?

And more than that, what do each of these virtues feel like, taste like, and smell like? What would it mean to live a life that fully embodied these qualities on the exterior, because we have already mastered it internally?

And so we have to ask ourselves if that isn’t what our lives currently reflect—are we ready to start over?

Author: Kate Rose
Image: akshaymoon/Flickr
Editor: Nicole Cameron